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LP
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FTR 306LP
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"Men & Volts was one of Boston's great bands, and I was sorry to see them fold up their tent in 1993. I had always known they started as a combo dedicated to playing the music of Capt. Beefheart & the Magic Band, but I was not in Beantown during this era, and thus missed the few shows they played in their original format. Over the years I have bugged David Greenberger (who I knew through his work with The Duplex Planet, etc.) about tapes of this material, but he always claimed it was not really up to snuff. Eventually, however, I wore him down and he turned over various audio recordings of Men & Volts playing the Magic Band's repertoire. And man, much of it was totally great. These guys rehearsed three times a week for the better part of 1979 in order to get the stuff figured out, and they really nailed aspects of the material. Those deeply-versed in live recordings of the Captain will notice some differences pretty fast, although many people who have caught this on in-store play have assumed it is a new Beefheart boot. And I think they really managed to capture the essential, weird swing of the Magic Band. The music on the album is a little lo-fi on spots, but we think it will get most people wiggling with pleasure. And the album title is a fairly obscure reference to a Cal Schenkel drawing that referenced a tune from Trout Mask Replica (1969). Figure it out and impress your friends with what a goddamn nerd you are." --Byron Coley, 2017 Edition of 300.
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LP+CD
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TR 306LP
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LP version with CD. In his three albums preceding Golden, Stockholm-based, English-singing German musician Johannes Mayer aka The Late Call has churned out sparsely arranged gems, with, at most, only hints of piano chords and the slightest accents of percussion. But in 2012, after the release of his album Pale Morning Light (TR 237CD/LP) and corresponding tour, Mayer turned away from this singer-songwriter style. He spent a year writing new material, then packed his bags full of songs and went looking for a band. In October 2014, Mayer (guitar), Patric Thorman (bass, Hammond organ), Henrik Roger (piano, Mellotron), and Lars Plogschties (drums, percussion) spent ten days in the grand recording room of Studio Nord in Bremen. The result was Golden, an album that brings to mind the music of the early '70s, the heyday of folk-rock, with songs that are at once warm and clear, laid-back and dynamic. Instead of the digital editing associated with most records in 2015, this album features the musicians playing together, standing in a half-circle. It captures a golden era when Hunter S. Thompson was writing Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Bob Dylan was riding on horseback with Kris Kristofferson through New Mexico. It was the time of the first indie songwriters, who flourished on both sides of the big pond -- here Townes van Zandt and Tim Hardin, there Nick Drake and John Martyn. But while the songs undoubtedly evoke folk and Americana, early '90s independent Britpop also shimmers between the lines. And yet this eclecticism has never been Mayer's ultimate goal -- in the end, he and his band sound only like themselves. It's no coincidence that the last track, "Telling Stories," makes use of tape delay, which seems to draw sound out into eternity. Musically and lyrically, Golden sheds light on the ordinary and everyday, finding subjects that might otherwise remain hidden. "The Pact" revolves around two people reminiscing about their youthful pledge to never become like the old. When Mayer's voice joins with his long-term musical acquaintance Ylva Ceder in the line, "never to become like them, never to give in," one can't help but think of two other voices, also "blending in perfection": Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris. All through the album, this special songwriter, with a voice full of longing, carries you away to drop you off three minutes later at the place you once dreamed of being.
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